Enough is Enough: Pokemon Go Needs to Allow Legendaries in Gyms

For many Pokemon Go players, the “Summer of Regi” has been a buzzkill of epic proportions. The three Regis - Regice, Registeel, and Regirock, don’t factor very much into the current Pokemon Go meta and serve generally as defenders in the main series Pokemon games, their relevance in the meta notwithstanding. Unless Niantic drastically overhauls the battling system, these Pokemon serve as little more than a Pokedex entry. It’s time to finally bite the bullet and let some of these lesser legendary Pokemon into gyms, for the betterment of the game.

I’m not talking about letting Pokemon like Mewtwo and Rayquaza in, that would be an issue. Legendaries of that caliber are rightfully banned from being put into gyms due to their sheer power, especially for newer players who wouldn’t stand a chance against a 3000+ CP Mewtwo (or something on that level) in a gym. But going against a 1256 CP Registeel in a gym? That’s a bit more fair, I’d say.

The idea of legendaries and “regular” Pokemon intermingling isn’t that foreign of an idea in the main series games, anyway. Competitive Pokemon websites like Smogon have ranked regular old Pokemon over legendaries since the birth of competitive play. Legendaries like Moltres and Articuno (and the Regis, for that matter,) have been regarded as less than viable in competitive play, and even at the highest level of competitive play, legendaries and regular Pokemon battle alongside each other. What’s the difference here? Let my Vaporeon fight alongside a Regice in a gym, or my buddy’s Articuno battle alongside a Slaking. Let’s get these legendaries out of their Event Balls and into some action, right?

There are a few ways to balance this out, so let’s break down how exactly this would work:

Only Allow “Regional Trios” Into Gyms

This would eliminate Pokemon like Mewtwo, Lugia, Kyogre, etc. from participating. This would allow Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos (you know, the Pokemon represented by the three competing teams Mystic, Valor, and Instinct, respectively.) along with their contemporaries in Generations 2 and 3 to be placed into gyms. This would begin to make all this Regi-grinding worth it.

Only One Legendary Per Trio Per Gym

Meaning, if there’s already a Raikou in the gym, then there’s no way to add Entei or Suicune to that gym, but another Trainer could add their Registeel. Once that trainer adds the Registeel, though, that’s it - no more Regis. This way, gyms aren’t just filled to the brim with these legendaries.

Potentially a CP cap?

I tossed back and forth with this idea of a CP cap for legendaries, but I’m not sure of it the more I think about it. On one hand, it will be easier to defeat legendaries who can’t have above, say, 2500CP. But the Pokemon who frequent most gyms now (Slaking, Blissey, Snorlax) all have CPs way higher than 2500.

What About a Berry Cap?

The running gag in the Pokemon Go community is that the best gym defender is the Golden Razz Berry. One way to balance the Berry could be to put a cap on the amount of food you can feed your legendaries. But just like above, if 4000 CP Slakings can be Golden Razz Berry’d until their Trainer runs out, why can’t my Suicune?

Legendary Field Research Rewards Only?

Lastly, one option would be to limit the legendaries to only ones caught via Field Research, such as Raikou for this month. This, of course, would completely defeat the purpose of this whole article since the Regis were actual raid bosses and not Field Research rewards, but in the event they become Field Research rewards, they can be added too. It’s not foolproof, but it’s one way to guarantee we won’t see any super-powered legendaries in our gyms, since you'll never see Groudon as a research reward (though I certainly hope I'm wrong!)

I know we’ll probably never get to this point, but it’s wishful thinking to one day be able to use this new Regirock for something other than a Pokedex entry and a shot at some Rare Candies. Speaking of Regirock, if you’re not sure exactly how to defeat the newest Pokemon Go raid boss, then you need to check out our Regirock battling guide!